Hoover’s Hind named state girls track coach of year

Hoover High’s Devon Hind has been named the state’s girls track and field coach of the year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. 

Hind’s girls team captured the state Class 6A indoor and outdoor titles last season.

One boys coach and one girls coach from each of the 50 states were honored for their successes during the 2014 track & field season, as selected by a committee of experts from around the nation. Homewood’s Tom Essinger was named the state’s boys coach of the year.

The winners from each state are in consideration for the association’s first-ever National High School Coach of the Year award. Selected by a panel of track & field experts, one boys coach and one girls coach from among all the states will be announced later this month as the national winners.

Hind first started coaching in 1978 at Berry High. In 1981, he left coaching to start a business, but he returned to coaching in 1993 as a part-time head coach for Simmons Middle School where his teams won multiple league championships. Ten years later, he became head cross country and track & field coach at Hoover High.

In the past 11 seasons, Hind has led Hoover’s teams to 19 state championships, in addition to his one championship while coaching at Berry. 

Hind received the prestigious Finley Character Award in 2007 for Hoover City Schools, which is awarded to one employee for the system per year.  In 2013, The National Scholastic Sports Foundation honored him as the Mike Byrnes Indoor National Track Coach of the Year.

State-by-state winners were selected based on their teams’ performances throughout the 2014 track & field season. Among the factors taken into consideration were team score and placement at the state championships, the number of different events in which student-athletes were qualified, individual championships, and how their teams’ performances stacked up to previous years.

“This is the most prestigious award that a high school coach could ever attain,” National Senate of High School Track Coaches Association Executive Chairman Don Helberg said. “I am so happy and proud that USTFCCCA has added this award to the collegiate awards they already present.”

An inaugural High School Coach of the Year award for cross country will be given during the upcoming 2014 season.